Details

AC10DS probe with a Carbon Nano Fiber (CNF) grown at the end of tip
Simple but strong desire of a biologist had moved us to make this ultra small cantilever for observing dynamic behavior of bio molecular samples in liquid. Bio sample is active in liquid, where cantilevers receive large damping force so that they vibrate slower rather than in air. The challenge in the cantilever fabrication was maintaining resonance of the soft cantilever high even in liquid. The answer was ‘making it smaller’.

Outstanding features of BioLever fast

1. Ultra small cantilever for fast scanning in liquid:
The ultra small cantilever sized in 9 x 2 µm shows high resonance at around 1.5 MHz in air and approximately 400 kHz in water while its spring constant remain small around 0.1 N/m.
The resonance in water is 10 times higher than that of ‘BioLever mini’, or BL-AC40TS-C2 , so that it contributes to achieve imaging rate of 1 frame per second or faster for 100 x 100 pixcels.
Its spring constant is small in the same range as ‘BioLever mini’, so that it allows the probe gently touch to the bio sample surface during the scanning.

2. High resolution imaging ( BL-AC10FS )
A CNF probe, small fibril with a tip radius less than 10 nm, grows at the end of the triangular portion of bird-beak-like cantilever. CNF probe improves quality of AFM images.